Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The word "mandala" is Sanskrit for "whole world" or "healing circle". They were originally used in Eastern religions as symbols in protection and healing rituals, as well as for aids in meditation. In the current Western world, mandalas are popular among psychologists, as coloring or painting them can be comforting and rhythmic and aid with relaxation and stress relief.

You can google "mandala coloring pages" and find many different designs to print out and give to your client to color or paint. This can be used as a mindfulness, stress-relief, or other therapeutic activity.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

This Anger Control Stoplight serves as a visual aid to remind children to think before acting when they are angry. I print it out on cardstock and then cut it out and allow my clients to color it, using the appropriate colors (red, yellow, and green), as we discuss what each color means. I also write down clues for what each light means and have the client glue the clue next to the correct light. We then put it somewhere where the client will see it often, especially when angry. I have had clients paste theirs onto their coping skills boxes or journals. Hanging on the fridge or on a bedroom wall are also recommended.

As an activity, you could also play "Red Light, Green Light" (the old game we all know and love from our childhood!), which helps children practice listening/following directions and impulse control.

Friday, November 2, 2012

My coworker and I created this game together. It's a group activity that requires at least 4 participants. This activity is helpful in helping children learn to identify and express different emotions.

How to make:

Print out a picture of a football field on green paper, cut it out, and paste it onto cardstock. You may choose to laminate it. Print out several little footballs, cut them into squares - - or you can use stickers and stick them onto little squares of paper- and write a different emotion on the back of each one (happy, sad, frustrated, bored, tired, excited, scared, etc.). The difficulty of the emotions you use will depend upon the age of your client, of course.

How to play:

Divide into two even teams and assign one end zone on the football field to each team.

Spread the footballs out all over the field.

One member of the team chooses a football, flips it over, and acts out the emotion on the back. The members of his/her team have to guess the emotion within 30 seconds. If they guess correctly, they get a "touchdown" and place the football in their goal. If they guess incorrectly, they place the football back down on the field.

The next team chooses a football and does the same thing. This continues back and forth until every football has been chosen.

The team with the most footballs in their goal at the end wins.

Ideas for modifications:

The football field can be substituted with a soccer field or basketball court, depending upon the interest of your clients.

For Girls: A "My Little Pony" theme. You can print and cut out a rainbow and two clouds and paste the rainbow on cardstock with one cloud on each end of the rainbow. Print pictures of ponies and cut into squares (or use pony stickers on small squares of cardstock)and spread out over the rainbow. Each team is assigned a cloud, and when an emotion is correctly guessed, the pony with that emotion goes onto the team's cloud.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

There are many simple everyday activities that can be used as interventions that we may not even think about! Almost any activity can be tied to some kind of therapeutic goal or skill, depending on how you structure the activity. Here are a few that I have used with my clients at work, along with the skills and/or goals that can be tied into them:

I use this activity with pre-teen and teenaged clients often as a self-esteem building activity and also to help me understand how the client sees him/herself . Common themes that I use are "All About Me" (in which the child cuts out words and pictures that describe him/her characteristics, interests, personality, etc) and "Design Your Life" (in which the child cuts out pictures and words that describe how he/she sees his/her future. Topics they might cover are dream job, home, car, family, pets, and so forth). Provide the child with a magazines, markers, glue, scissors, etc. and allow the child to design their collage. As you can imagine, they can get very creative with this.